Don’t start with the stove top

When I first started cooking, I turned the stove top on first. I figured it was an easy first step and would help me build momentum. Heating the pan would take a few minutes, so that was enough time to do everything else. I thought this deadline would make me more efficient, so I could spend less time cooking. That wasn’t a good idea. Almost every time, I got distracted with the other preparation tasks (cleaning, washing, etc.), which always took longer than I’d forecasted, because I didn’t actually forecast, I just wanted to rush through the process. I would feel an incredible sense of stress, as if I didn’t have enough time. Which I didn’t… because I started the stove top. Inevitably, the pan would get too hot, the oil would get too hot, and when I threw the meat on the pan, it would burn. Cooking was no fun, I thought. Or maybe I was just bad at it. On advice from my wife, I stopped turning the stove on first. I shifted my focus to actual prep work, without any time constraints:…